Find research datasets worth reusing
Search datasets from major research repositories and use ShareScore to quickly assess how well each record supports discovery, access, and reuse.
1,186
datasets available to search
ShareScore release 0.9.0
Dataset results
1,186 results for “defensiveness”
Data from: Bacillus cereus AR156 activates defense responses to Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato in Arabidopsis thaliana similarly to flg22
Bacillus cereus AR156 (AR156) is a plant growth promoting rhizobacterium capable of inducing systemic resistance to Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato (Pst) in Arabidopsis thaliana (Arabidopsis). Here we show that when applied to Arabidopsis leaves, AR156 acted similarly to flg22, a typical pathogen-associated molecular pattern (PAMP), in initiating PAMP-triggered immunity (PTI). AR156-elicited PTI responses included phosphorylation of MPK3 and MPK6, induction of the expression of defense-related genes PR1, FRK1, WRKY22, and WRKY29; production of reactive oxygen species; and callose deposition. Pretreatment with AR156 still significantly reduced Pst multiplication and disease severity in NahG transgenic plants and mutants sid2-2, jar1, etr1, ein2, npr1, and fls2. This suggests that AR156-induced PTI responses require neither salicylic acid, jasmonic acid, and ethylene signaling; nor flagella receptor kinase FLS2, the receptor of flg22. On the other hand, AR156 and flg22 acted in concert to differentially regulate a number of AGO1-bound miRNAs that function to mediate PTI. A full-genome transcriptional profiling analysis indicated that AR156 and flg22 activated similar transcriptional programs, co-regulating the expression of 117 genes; their concerted regulation of 16 genes was confirmed by real-time quantitative PCR analysis. These results suggest that AR156 activates basal defense responses to Pst in Arabidopsis similarly to flg22.
Data from: The evolution of defense mechanisms correlate with the explosive diversification of autodigesting Coprinellus mushrooms (Agaricales, Fungi)
Bursts of diversification are known to have contributed significantly to the extant morphological and species diversity, but evidence for many of the theoretical predictions about adaptive radiations have remained contentious. Despite their tremendous diversity, patterns of evolutionary diversification and the contribution of explosive episodes in fungi are largely unknown. Here, using the genus Coprinellus (Psathyrellaceae, Agaricales) as a model, we report the first explosive fungal radiation, and infer that the onset of the radiation follows a change from a multi-layered to a much simpler defense structure on the fruiting bodies. We suggest that this change constitutes a key innovation, relaxing constraints on diversification imposed by nutritional investment into the development of protective tissues of fruiting bodies. Evidence for the impact of protective structures on diversification places our current understanding of fruiting body evolution in a new context. Fossil calibration suggests that Coprinellus mushrooms radiated during the Miocene coinciding with global radiation of large grazing mammals following expansion of dry open grasslands. In addition to diversification-rate based methods, we test the hard polytomy hypothesis, by analyzing the resolvability of internal nodes of the backbone of the putative radiation using Reversible-Jump MCMC. We discuss potential applications and pitfalls as well as how biologically meaningful polytomies can be distinguished from alignment shortcomings. Our data provide insights into the nature of adaptive radiations in general by revealing a deceleration of morphological diversification through time. The "rate" of morphological diversification was approximated by obtaining the temporal distribution of state changes in discrete traits along the trees and comparing it with the tempo of lineage accumulation. By using speciational trees, we found that the number of state changes correlate with the number of lineages, even in parts of the tree with short internal branches, and peaks around the onset of the explosive radiation followed by a slowdown, most likely because of the decrease in available niches.
Plant defense resistance in natural enemies of a specialist insect herbivore
<p class="AbstractSummary"><span>Plants defend themselves against herbivores through the production of toxic and deterrent metabolites. Adapted herbivores can tolerate and sometimes sequester these metabolites, allowing them to feed on defended plants and become toxic to their own enemies. Can herbivore natural enemies overcome sequestered plant defense metabolites to prey on adapted herbivores? To address this question, we studied how entomopathogenic nematodes cope with benzoxazinoid defense metabolites that are produced by grasses and sequestered by a specialist maize herbivore, the western corn rootworm. We find that nematodes from US maize fields in regions in which the western corn rootworm was present over the last 50 years are behaviorally and metabolically resistant to sequestered benzoxazinoids and more infective towards the western corn rootworm than nematodes from other parts of the world. Exposure of a benzoxazinoid-susceptible nematode strain to the western corn rootworm for five generations results in higher behavioral and metabolic resistance and benzoxazinoid-dependent infectivity towards the western corn rootworm. Thus, herbivores that are exposed to a plant defense sequestering herbivore can evolve both behavioral and metabolic resistance to plant defense metabolites, and these traits are associated with higher infectivity towards a defense sequestering herbivore. We conclude that plant defense metabolites that are transferred through adapted herbivores may result in the evolution of resistance in herbivore natural enemies. Our study also identifies plant defense resistance as a potential target for the improvement of biological control agents. </span></p>
Data from: Testing the plant growth-defense hypothesis belowground: do faster-growing herbaceous plant species suffer more negative effects from soil biota than slower-growing ones?
According to the growth-defense hypothesis in ecology, faster-growing plant species should suffer more from herbivores and pathogens than slower-growing species. Tests of this hypothesis have focused on aboveground plant tissues, herbivores, and pathogens; however, it should also apply to root defense. To test whether faster-growing species suffer more negatively from soil biota than slower-growing species, we estimated first-season growth rates of 34 herbaceous plant species and used weighted linear regressions to assess the relationship between growth rates and responses to being grown in sterilized versus unsterilized soil (biotic soil effects) and to growing in soil previously occupied by conspecifics versus a mixture of species (conspecific soil effects). We found a negative relationship between relative growth rate and biotic soil effects, with slower-growing species tending to suffer less or even benefit from the presence of soil biota, while faster-growing species were more negatively affected. Biotic soil effects were also negatively related to size-corrected growth rates. These relationships remained negative after accounting for influential species, but a large amount of variation remained unexplained. Moreover, there was no clear relationship between growth rates and conspecific soil effects. A simple relationship between growth and defense aboveground may not be so clearly reflected belowground because of the many interacting antagonistic and mutualistic organisms likely involved.
Data from: A below ground herbivore shapes root defensive chemistry in natural plant populations
Plants display extensive intraspecific variation in secondary metabolites. However, the selective forces shaping this diversity remain often unknown, especially below ground. Using Taraxacum officinale and its major native insect root herbivore Melolontha melolontha, we tested whether below ground herbivores drive intraspecific variation in root secondary metabolites. We found that high M. melolontha infestation levels over the last decades are associated with high concentrations of major root latex secondary metabolites across 21 central European T. officinale field populations. By cultivating offspring of these populations, we show that both heritable variation and phenotypic plasticity contribute to the observed differences. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the production of the sesquiterpene lactone taraxinic acid β-D-glucopyranosyl ester (TA-G) is costly in the absence, but beneficial in the presence of M. melolontha, resulting in divergent selection of TA-G. Our results highlight the role of soil-dwelling insects for the evolution of plant defences in nature.
Data from: Mechanisms and fitness effects of antibacterial defenses in a carrion beetle
Parents of many species care for their offspring by protecting them from a wide range of environmental hazards, including desiccation, food shortages, predators, competitors, and parasites and pathogens. Currently, little is known about the mechanisms and fitness consequences of parental defenses against bacterial pathogens and competitors. Here we combine approaches from microbiology and behavioural ecology to investigate the role and mechanistic basis of antibacterial secretions applied to carcasses by parents of the burying beetle Nicrophorus vespilloides. This species rears its larvae on vertebrate carcasses, where larvae suffer significant fitness costs due to competition with bacterial decomposers. We first confirm that anal secretions produced by parents are potently bactericidal, and that their effects are specific to gram-positive bacteria. Next, we identify the source of bacterial killing as a secreted lysozyme, and show that its concentration changes throughout the breeding cycle. Finally, we show that secreted lysozyme is crucial for larval development, increasing survival by nearly two-fold compared to offspring reared in its absence. These results demonstrate for the first time that anal secretions applied to carrion is a form of parental care, and expand the mechanistic repertoire of defenses used by parent insects to protect dependent offspring from microbial threats.
Data from: Experimental evolution of external immune defenses in the red flour beetle
The red flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum, secretes quinones that control the microbial flora in the surrounding environment. These secretions act as an external immune defence that provides protection against pathogens. At high concentrations, however, these secretions are harmful to the host itself, and selection may thus have optimized the level of expression under natural conditions. Here, we show that the expression of external immunity responded to selection during experimental evolution within a few generations. At the same time, one component of internal immune defence (phenoloxidase activity) was compromised in beetles selected for either high or low external defences. Intriguingly, offspring protection against a natural pathogen was reduced in flour obtained from beetle lines selected for low amounts of secretions. Altogether, this suggests that external and internal immune defences work together efficiently under natural conditions, whereas every manipulation on the side of external immune defence comes with costs to the internal immune defence.
Data from: Choose your weapon: defensive behavior is associated with morphology and performance in scorpions
Morphology can be adaptive through its effect on performance of an organism. The effect of performance may, however, be modulated by behavior; an organism may choose a behavioral option that does not fully utilize its maximum performance. Behavior may therefore be decoupled from morphology and performance. To gain insight into the relationships between these levels of organization, we combined morphological data on defensive structures with measures of defensive performance, and their utilization in defensive behavior. Scorpion species show significant variation in the morphology and performance of their main defensive structures; their chelae (pincers) and the metasoma ("tail") carrying the stinger. Our data show that size-corrected pinch force varies to almost two orders of magnitude among species, and is correlated with chela morphology. Chela and metasoma morphology are also correlated to the LD50 of the venom, corroborating the anecdotal rule that dangerously venomous scorpions can be recognized by their chelae and metasoma. Analyses of phylogenetic independent contrasts show that correlations between several aspects of chela and metasoma morphology, performance and behavior are present. These correlations suggest co-evolution of behavior with morphology and performance. Path analysis found a performance variable (pinch force) to partially mediate the relationship between morphology (chela aspect ratio) and behavior (defensive stinger usage). We also found a correlation between two aspects of morphology: pincer finger length correlates with the relative "thickness" (aspect ratio) of the metasoma. This suggests scorpions show a trade-off between their two main weapon complexes: the metasoma carrying the stinger, and the pedipalps carrying the chelae.
Data from: Species-specific plant–soil feedbacks alter herbivore-induced gene expression and defense chemistry in Plantago lanceolata
Plants actively interact with antagonists and beneficial organisms occurring in the above- and belowground domains of terrestrial ecosystems. In the past decade, studies have focused on the role of plant–soil feedbacks (PSF) in a broad range of ecological processes. However, PSF and its legacy effects on plant defense traits, such as induction of defense-related genes and production of defensive secondary metabolites, have not received much attention. Here, we study soil legacy effects created by twelve common grassland plant species on the induction of four defense-related genes, involved in jasmonic acid signaling, related to chewing herbivore defense (LOX2, PPO7), and in salicylic acid signaling, related to pathogen defense (PR1 and PR2) in Plantago lanceolata in response to aboveground herbivory by Mamestra brassicae. We also assessed soil legacy and herbivory effects on the production of terpenoid defense compounds (the iridoid glycosides aucubin and catalpol) in P. lanceolata. Our results show that both soil legacy and herbivory influence phenotypes of P. lanceolata in terms of induction of Pl PPO7 and Pl LOX2, whereas the expression of Pl PR1 and Pl PR2-1 is not affected by soil legacies, nor by herbivory. We also find species-specific soil legacy effects on the production of aucubin. Moreover, P. lanceolata accumulates more catalpol when they are grown in soils conditioned by grass species. Our study highlights that PSF can influence aboveground plant–insect interactions through the impacts on plant defense traits and suggests that aboveground plant defense responses can be determined, at least partly, by plant-specific legacy effects induced by belowground organisms.
Data from:Differential induction of plant chemical defenses by parasitized and unparasitized herbivores: consequences for reciprocal, multitrophic interactions
Insect parasitoids can play ecologically important roles in virtually all terrestrial plant–insect herbivore interactions, yet whether parasitoids alter the defensive traits that underlie interactions between plants and their herbivores remains a largely unexplored question. Here, we examined the reciprocal trophic interactions among populations of the wild cabbage Brassica oleracea that vary greatly in their production of defensive secondary compounds – glucosinolates (GSs), a generalist herbivore, Trichoplusia ni, and its polyembryonic parasitoid Copidosoma floridanum. In a greenhouse environment, plants were exposed to either healthy (unparasitized), parasitized, or no herbivores. Feeding damage by herbivores induced higher levels of the indole GSs, glucobrassicin and neoglucobrassicin, but not any of the other measured GSs. Herbivores parasitized by C. floridanum induced cabbage plants to produce 1.5 times more indole GSs than levels induced by healthy T. ni and five times more than uninduced plants. As a gregarious endoparasitoid, C. floridanum causes its host T. ni to feed more than unparasitized herbivores resulting in increased induction of indole GSs. In turn, herbivore fitness parameters (including differential effects on male and female contributions to lifetime fecundity in the herbivore) were negatively correlated with the aliphatic GSs, sinigrin and gluconapin, whereas parasitoid fitness parameters were negatively correlated with the indole GSs, glucobrassicin and neoglucobrassicin. That herbivores and their parasitoids appear to be affected by different sets of GSs was unexpected given the intimate developmental associations between host and parasitoid. This study is the first to demonstrate that parasitoids, through increasing feeding by their herbivorous hosts, can induce higher levels of non-volatile plant chemical defenses. While parasitoids are widely recognized to be ubiquitous in most terrestrial insect herbivore communities, their role in influencing plant–insect herbivore relationships is still vastly underappreciated.
Data from: Shifts in woody plant defense syndromes during leaf development
1. Herbivores target young leaves in forests worldwide. How this strong and predictable selection pressure has shaped plant defense syndromes remains unclear. Specifically, whether young leaf herbivory has led to general global patterns of shifting leaf defences during lead development (i.e. ontogenetic trajectories) remains unknown but likely. 2. Using meta-analysis, we have synthesized developmental shifts in chemical, physical, and indirect defence traits, as well as leaf nutrient content, during leaf expansion and maturation across 124 woody plant species. Leaf traits were compared for immature young leaves versus mature leaves within studies, and these developmental shifts were then compared across studies to characterize general patterns. 3. Traits shifted strongly during leaf maturation, giving rise to discrete defence syndromes, with young leaves having significantly greater nutrient and secondary chemistry concentrations but reduced toughness and indirect defence traits than mature leaves. These patterns corroborate a growing consensus on the importance of ontogeny in plant defences, illustrating ontogenetic trajectories at the scale of leaves. 4. Trait developmental shifts were stronger in species with synchronous than asynchronous leaf flushing, but whether this reflects variation across biomes remains unclear. 5. Future research on under-studied traits, such as alkaloids, cyanogenesis, leaf phosphorus content, and indirect defence traits, and in a more biogeographic context will provide additional insights into the generality of shifts in defence syndromes during leaf development.
Data from: Active foraging for toxic prey during gestation in a snake with maternal provisioning of sequestered chemical defenses
Many animals sequester dietary defensive compounds and incorporate them into the offspring, which protects the young against predation. One possible but poorly investigated question is whether females of such species actively prey upon toxic diets. The snake Rhabdophis tigrinus sequesters defensive steroids from toads consumed as prey; it also feeds on other amphibians. Females produce chemically armed offspring in direct proportion to their own level of toad-derived toxins by provisioning the toxins to their eggs. Our field observations of movements and stomach contents of radio-tracked R. tigrinus showed that gravid snakes preyed upon toads by actively foraging in the habitat of toads, even though toads were a scarce resource and toad-searching may incur potential costs. Our Y-maze experiments demonstrated that gravid females were more likely to trail the chemical cues of toads than were males or non-gravid females. These results showed behavioural switching in females and active foraging for scarce, toxic prey during gestation. Because exploitation of toads by gravid females results in their offspring being more richly endowed with prey-derived toxins, active foraging for toxic prey is expected to be an adaptive antipredator trait, which may enhance chemical defence in offspring.
Data from: Constitutive and herbivore-induced plant defenses regulate herbivore population growth
1. Induced plant defenses regulated by the phytohormones jasmonic acid and salicylic acid are predicted to influence herbivore population dynamics, in part because they can operate in a density-dependent manner. While there is ample evidence that induced plant responses affect individual performance and growth of herbivores, whether they scale-up to regulate herbivore population dynamics is still unclear. 2. We evaluated the consequences of variation in plant defenses and herbivore density on herbivore development, reproduction and density-dependent population growth. We investigated potential mechanisms affecting the strength of herbivore density-dependent processes by manipulating jasmonate expression, quantifying plant defensive traits (phytohormones jasmonic acid and salicylic acid and serine proteinase inhibitors) and adding aphids (Macrosiphum euphorbiae) at different densities to plants to simulate different initial population density and herbivore load. We manipulated jasmonate defenses by using genetically modified lines of tomato plants (Solanum lycopersicum) with elevated or suppressed jasmonate-dependent defenses. Jasmonate-insensitive plants cannot induce the jasmonic acid pathway, while jasmonate-overexpressing plants constitutively express jasmonate-dependent defenses. 3. We found that jasmonate defenses provided resistance against aphids and influenced density-dependent processes. Jasmonate-overexpressing plants reduced aphid reproduction, prolonged developmental time, dampened aphid populations across all aphid densities, and caused density-independent aphid population growth. Aphid feeding on jasmonate-overexpressing plants did not activate the salicylic acid pathway, thus on this plant line jasmonate defenses affected aphid responses. In contrast, jasmonate-insensitive plants increased aphid reproduction, shortened the developmental time, reduced population growth only at high initial densities, and promoted strong negative density-dependent population growth. Aphid feeding on jasmonate-insensitive plants did not induce jasmonate-dependent defenses, but induced the salicylic acid pathway in a density-dependent manner, which resulted in negative density-dependent aphid population growth. 4. Aphid feeding on jasmonate-insensitive and overexpressing plant differentially activated the salicylate pathway, revealing a negative crosstalk between the defensive phytohormones jasmonic acid and salicylic acid. By muting or enhancing jasmonate-mediated responses and quantifying salicylic acid phytohormone induction, we demonstrated that plant defenses are a key factor driving not only the performance, but also the density dependence processes of herbivore populations.
Data from: An alternative pathway to eusociality: exploring the molecular and functional basis of fortress defense
Some animals express a form of eusociality known as 'fortress defense', in which defense rather than brood care is the primary social act. Aphids are small plant-feeding insects, but like termites, some species express division of labor and castes of aggressive juvenile 'soldiers'. What is the functional basis of fortress defense eusociality in aphids? Previous work showed that the acquisition of venoms might be a key innovation in aphid social evolution. We show that the lethality of aphid soldiers derives in part from the induction of exaggerated immune responses in insects they attack. Comparisons between closely-related social and non-social species identified a number of secreted effector molecules that are candidates for immune modulation, including a convergently-recruited protease described in unrelated aphid species with venom-like functions. These results suggest that aphids are capable of antagonizing conserved features of the insect immune response, and provide new insights into the mechanisms underlying the evolution of fortress defense eusociality in aphids.
Data from: Inferring roles in defense from metabolic allocation of rice diterpenoids
Among their responses to microbial infection, plants deploy an arsenal of antibiotic natural products. While these historically have been identified on the basis of their antibiotic activity in vitro, this leaves open the question of their relevance to defense in planta. The vast majority of such natural products from the important crop plant rice (Oryza sativa) are diterpenoids whose biosynthesis proceeds via either ent- or syncopalyl diphosphate (CPP) intermediates, and which were isolated on the basis of their antibiotic activity against the fungal blast pathogen Magnaporthe oryzae. However, rice plants in which the gene for the syn-CPP synthase Os-CPS4 is knocked-out do not exhibit increased susceptibility to M. oryzae. Here it is further shown that knocking-out or knocking-down Os-CPS4 actually decreases susceptibility to the bacterial leaf blight pathogen Xanthomonas oryzae. On the other hand, knocking-out or knocking-down the gene for the ent-CPP synthase Os-CPS2 is found to increase susceptibility to both M. oryzae and X. oryzae, while over-expressing Os-CPS2 decreases susceptibility to both. Despite the secretion of diterpenoids dependent on Os-CPS2 or Os-CPS4 from roots neither knock-out exhibited significant changes in the composition of their rhizosphere bacterial communities. Nevertheless, rice plants allocate substantial metabolic resources towards syn- as well as ent-CPP derived diterpenoids upon infection/induction. On the basis of this observation further investigation was carried out, revealing that Os-CPS4 plays a role in fungal non-host disease resistance. Thus, as exemplified here with rice diterpenoids, examination of metabolic allocation provides important clues into physiological function.
Data from: Genome-wide association study of a Varroa-specific defense behavior in honeybees (Apis mellifera)
Honey bees are exposed to many damaging pathogens and parasites. The most devastating is Varroa destructor, which mainly affects the brood. A promising approach for preventing its spread is to breed Varroa-resistant honey bees. One trait that has been shown to provide significant resistance against the Varroa mite is hygienic behavior, which is a behavioral response of honeybee workers to brood diseases in general. Here we report the use of an Affymetrix 44K SNP array to analyze SNPs associated with detection and uncapping of Varroa-parasitized brood by individual worker bees (Apis mellifera). For this study, 22,000 individually labeled bees were video-monitored and a sample of 122 cases and 122 controls was collected and analyzed to determine the dependence / independence of SNP genotypes from hygienic and non-hygienic behavior on a genome-wide scale. After false-discovery rate correction of the p-values, six SNP markers had highly significant associations with the trait investigated (alpha < 0.01). Inspection of the genomic regions around these SNPs led to the discovery of putative candidate genes.
Data from: Infectious adaptation: potential host range of a defensive endosymbiont in Drosophila
Maternally transmitted symbionts persist over macroevolutionary time scales by undergoing occasional lateral transfer to new host species. To invade a new species, a symbiont must survive and reproduce in the new host, undergo maternal transmission, and confer a selective benefit sufficient to overcome losses due to imperfect maternal transmission. Drosophila neotestacea is naturally infected with a strain of Spiroplasma that restores fertility to nematode-parasitized females, which are otherwise sterilized by parasitism. We experimentally transferred Spiroplasma from D. neotestacea to four other species of mycophagous Drosophila that vary in their ability to resist and/or tolerate nematode parasitism. In all four species, Spiroplasma achieved within-host densities and experienced rates of maternal transmission similar to that in D. neotestacea. Spiroplasma restored fertility to nematode-parasitized females in one of these novel host species. Based on estimates of maternal transmission fidelity and the expected benefit of Spiroplasma infection in the wild, we conclude that Spiroplasma has the potential to spread and become abundant within D. putrida, which is broadly sympatric with D. neotestacea and in which females are rendered completely sterile by nematode parasitism. Thus, a major adaptation within D. putrida could arise via lateral transmission of a heritable symbiont from D. neotestacea.
Data from: Territory defense as a condition-dependent component of male reproductive success in Drosophila serrata
Sexual selection arises from both intrasexual competition and mate choice. With respect to the evolution of male traits, there is a vast literature documenting the existence of female choice and male-male competition, and both have been shown to co-occur in many species. Despite numerous studies of these two components of male reproductive success in isolation, few have investigated whether and how they interact to determine total sexual selection. To address this, we investigate male territoriality in Drosophila serrata, a species in which female preference for male sexual pheromones (cuticular hydrocarbons or CHCs) have been extensively studied. We demonstrate that territoriality occurs, that it involves direct male-male aggressive interactions, and that it contributes to variation in male mating success. Results from a phenotypic manipulation also indicate that territorial success is condition-dependent, although a genetic manipulation of condition, involving three generations of full-sib inbreeding, failed to find a significant effect. Finally, selection assays also suggest that territorial success depends on male body size but not on CHCs, whereas the opposite is true for mating success.
Data from: Defensive posture in a terrestrial salamander deflects predatory strikes irrespective of body size
A wide variety of prey use defensive postures as a means of protection from predators. Many salamanders engage in broadly similar defensive postures, which may function as a warning signal and reduce the probability of attack, or may deflect predator attacks away from vital body parts. The extent to which these strategies (i.e. aposematism and deflection) act exclusively or synergistically, however, remains unknown. We deployed clay salamanders in the field, manipulating size (small, large) and posture (resting, defensive), and documented attack rates across three predator types. Competing risks analysis revealed that attack rates were affected by model size, deployment period, and leaf litter depth at the site of deployment, whereas model posture had no significant effect. Model size and posture did not interact, indicating that defensive posture was ineffective in deterring attack irrespective of prey size. Model prey in the defensive posture received significantly more attacks on the tail irrespective of size, and the defensive posture was more effective at deflecting avian attacks compared to mammal predation. We conclude that defensive posture increases tail conspicuousness without increasing predation risk, and primarily functions to deflect attacks away from vital body parts. The efficacy of defection may be further increased by tail undulation, however our use of static models means that we cannot exclude aposematic or deimatic functions for such movements. Our results provide important support for the deflection hypothesis in explaining antipredator behavior, and thereby set the stage for additional research targeting the functionality of attack deflection in natural predator-prey encounters.
Data from: The genetics of phenotypic plasticity in plant defense: trichome production in Mimulus guttatus
Insect herbivory is a major driving force of plant evolution. Phenotypic plasticity and developmental variation provide a means for plants to cope with variable herbivory. We characterized the genetics of developmental variation and phenotypic plasticity in trichome density, a putative defensive trait of Mimulus guttatus (yellow monkeyflower). Our results are evaluated in relation to the optimal defense theory, which provides testable predictions for plastic and developmental patterns in defense traits. We found that both developmental stage and simulated insect damage affected trichome production, but in different ways. Plants were more likely to produce at least some trichomes on later leaves than on earlier leaves, regardless of damage. Damage did not affect the average probability of producing trichomes, but it did increase the density of hairs on trichome‐positive plants. We mapped trichome quantitative trait loci (QTL) by selectively genotyping a large panel of recombinant inbred lines derived from two highly divergent populations. Several highly pleiotropic QTL influenced multiple aspects of the trichome phenotype (constitutive, developmental, and/or plastic responses). Only one of the QTL influenced trichome induction following damage. In a result that is consistent with a central prediction of optimal defense theory, the high allele at this location was from the ancestral population with low constitutive trichome production.
ScienceDex guides
Understand access before you commit
These curated guides explain access requirements, typical timelines, costs, and reuse considerations for widely used research datasets.
Allen Brain Atlas
Allen Brain Atlas is an Allen Institute collection of brain map atlases, datasets, APIs, and analysis tools covering mouse, human, and non-human primate brain resources.
Annotated Behaviour and Observability Dataset (ABODe)
ABODe is a University of Edinburgh DataShare dataset for behavior classification in group-housed mice using home-cage video, identities, bounding boxes, ground-plate positions, and annotator labels.
DANDI Archive for NWB datasets
DANDI is a BRAIN Initiative archive for publishing and sharing neurophysiology data, including electrophysiology, optophysiology, and behavioral data packaged as NWB and related standards.
International Brain Laboratory public data
The International Brain Laboratory public data releases expose standardized mouse decision-making experiments, including Neuropixels recordings, widefield calcium imaging, behavior, and session metadata accessed through the ONE API.
OpenNeuro
OpenNeuro is a free, open platform for sharing neuroimaging datasets, with public search, dataset pages, and download paths for web, S3, DataLad, and the OpenNeuro CLI.